Transmigrated as My Best Friend's Ex

74. Do You Hate Me?

Translator: Guy Gone Bad

They all sank into silence. The room was quiet; someone’s irregular breathing could be heard clearly. Maybe it was Li Qinghao’s, or Keqi’s, or Nancheng Lie’s.  There was no sound of anything astir in the room, except for the sound of breathing.

Keqi opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but the words stuck in his throat. He looked into Li Qinghao’s clear eyes and beheld panic and fear. Keqi felt a spasm of heartache, but soon logic prevailed and he doubted Li Qinghao’s words. Keqi didn’t believe that Li Qinghao knew all these things from his dream. If not, how did he know that?

Keqi was silent for a while. It was just a few seconds, but it felt like decades. He reached out and held Li Qinghao in his arms. “Don’t be afraid. It was just a dream.” His voice was very gentle, but his eyes were cold.

Nancheng Lie clenched his fists. He was trying his best to fight down the impulse to grab Li Qinghao by the collar.

What did he mean by that? Was it a dream? Or he was testing Keqi?

Nancheng Lie told himself that he should calm down. But… how could he be calm? He suddenly stood up and walked step by step to the bed. His eyes reddened with anger. He glared at Li Qinghao and Keqi, and his homicidal aura blanketed the vicinity.

He had been cheated by Keqi. Later, he had reached a gentleman’s agreement with Li Qinghao. But to be honest, he wanted to know the truth right now. He wanted to question Keqi.

However, he came to his senses when he reached the bedside. Nancheng plucked Li Qinghao out of Keqi’s arms and gave him a hard slap in the face. A reddish mark formed on Li Qinghao’s perfect face. Nancheng Lie said coldly, “You bitch!”

“What are you doing?” Keqi came back to his senses. He pulled Li Qinghao behind him and glared at Nancheng Lie with piercing eyes. “Are you crazy?”

Nancheng Lie slowly unclenched his fists and said, “Xu, let go of him.”

“You’re mad.” Keqi turned around and picked up Li Qinghao. With his back to Nancheng Lie, he warned, “You’ve broken up with him. Now he’s mine. If you hurt him again, I won’t let you off so easily.” With that, he walked away.

Nancheng Lie stared fixedly at Keqi’s retreating figure.

Li Qinghao stayed obediently in Keqi’s arms, turned his head and watched Nancheng Lie quietly. Nancheng bit his lower lip so hard that his teeth pierced and sank into his skin, and blood began to ooze out. His trembling shoulders betrayed his real feeling. He looked apologetically at Li Qinghao.

“Lie…”

Li Qinghao had a burning pain in his cheek. His heart ached too. Li Qinghao knew that Nancheng didn’t mean to hurt him. Nancheng Lie, who felt a deep sense of heartache, originally wanted to give Keqi a slap, but he came back to his senses in time.

Nancheng Lie’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Li Qinghao called me Lie?! Was I hearing imaginary voices?’ he thought.

Nancheng dragged himself across the floor and lay down on the bed in a big zigzag shape. ‘What did Li Qinghao mean? Was he trying to tell me Keqi killed Xu? Or was he hinting that Xu was still alive and only he knew where Xu was?’ Nancheng Lie thought to himself.

He stretched out his right hand and looked blankly at his palm. He slapped Li Qinghao with all his strength just now. He knew Li Qinghao must have got hurt. But it was too late when he came back to his senses. He couldn’t withdraw his hand, so at that urgent moment, he could only give Li Qinghao a slap and turn Li Qinghao over to Keqi.

‘Li Qinghao, you want me to wait four months, but I can’t wait to see Xu. Where are you, Xu? Xu…’ Nancheng Lie closed his eyes. A tear trickled down his cheek.

When he opened his eyes again, there was no emotion left in his eyes. He was marvelously cool again as if nothing had happened, although his eyes were bloodshot. He took out his new cell phone and dialed his second brother. As soon as he got through, he could’t wait to shout out, “Bro.”

Nancheng Lie’s brother was having a meeting. He was about to tell his young brother that he would call him back later, when Nancheng’s hoarse voice came from the other end of the line. He swallowed up what he wanted to say, and instead asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yes, Nancheng Lie’s voice was hoarse and cracked. Just now he wanted to cry, or maybe he already cried, but he gritted his teeth and made no noise. Now he had a sore throat. “Can you ask Elen to come to Leiluo Kingdom? I need his help.”

Elen was his brother’s schoolmate, best friend and subordinate. He was also a psychiatrist in Nancheng Hospital.

“Elen?” Nancheng Lie’s brother was a little surprised, but he didn’t ask more. “Only Elen? Who else do you want?”

“That’s enough. Bro…”

“Huh?”

“Now I can answer the question you asked me many years ago. I wanted to grow up quickly because I wanted to protect Xu.”

“I know.”

“I… I just want to tell you…” He wanted to tell his brother and himself that he would never let go of Xu if Xu came back to him in four months.

Nancheng Lie’s brother said nothing. He stood by the French window, overlooked the sidewalk and curved his lips into an evil smile. He was usually a courteous and gentle man, but now he looked like a refined rascal with this kind of smile that made others’ hair stand on end.

In Leiluo Kingdom.

Keqi carried Li Qinghao out of the hotel. Jimmy was waiting at the front door. He opened the car door at the sight of them. It was an elongated Rolls Royce. The limousine captured everyone’s eyes. Some people recognized Keqi and wanted to take pictures, but Jimmy stopped them. Leiluo Kingdom was a monarchy. Its citizens were instinctively in awe of the royal members.

Keqi didn’t let go of Li Qinghao after getting in the car. He still held him in his arms. Then he lowered his head and fixed his eyes on Li Qinghao’s red and swollen cheek. Li Qinghao leaned on Keqi’s arm and didn’t dare to move or look Keqi in the eye because he was afraid to give away his real feelings.

Suddenly, Keqi leaned over and brushed his lips softly across Li Qinghao’s cheek. Li Qinghao soon realized that Keqi was kissing him. Nausea surged in him and he felt like vomiting. A frown formed between his brows. “Do you hate me?” asked Keqi. His remark surprised Li Qinghao.

Keqi’s voice was very soft, but his every word was like a hammer hitting at Li Qinghao’s heart. Li Qinghao froze and dared not move. But he knew he should do something. Keqi was a smart man. He was afraid that Keqi would see through him.

“I don’t know,” Li Qinghao replied in a soft voice. “I was comatose for two years. After recovering from the coma, I was threatened and injected with the virus by your aunt. Now I have to act as if we were in love. I even don’t know why these dramatic things happened to me. How I wish it were just a dream!”

They lapsed into silence. Li Qinghao was not a man who put on an act to win sympathy, but now he had to do so.

All men were male chauvinists to some degree. It would please them if people they liked acted like a spoiled child in front of them. Keqi was no exception. After staying with Keqi for some days, Li Qinghao knew what Keqi’s his bottom line was and how to confuse Keqi.

‘Am I sacrificing my pride to achieve my goal?’ Li Qinghao thought to himself.

He felt it was ridiculous.

“Let’s fall in love.” Keqi looked at Li Qinghao, and an earnest look came into his eyes. The affection in his eyes was so sincere that it almost softened Li Qinghao’s heart. “Can you consider a romantic relationship with me when everything is settled, Qinghao?” Keqi asked. He looked at Li Qinghao with imploring eyes, but it was too late.

“I will agree if you have the courage to renew this request by then,” said Li Qinghao.

‘If Keqi knew that I was Han Mingxu, would he have the courage to ask me to develop a romantic relationship with him?’ Li Qinghao thought. He bowed his head and twisted his lips into a malicious smile. He couldn’t wait to know what would happen when everything came to light.

What would Keqi do? What would Frise do? What would Nancheng Lie… Li Qinghao frowned. His heart ached at the thought of Nancheng Lie.

They remained silent until the car stopped at the palace of the crown prince. When they got off, Keqi finally let go of Li Qinghao. He took Li Qinghao’s arm and helped Li Qinghao out of the car. “It’s almost two months since I woke up from the coma,” said Li Qinghao.

“Yes, for the first time I feel that the time goes like lightning.”

Li Qinghao replied, “The passage of time represents the passage of life.”

Keqi understood what Li Qinghao meant.

Li Qinghao was led to the room where he had stayed last night. The room had been cleaned. Keqi asked his cook to prepare some lightly seasoned dishes, and then went to his study. He sat down in a leather chair, closed his eyes and pressed his throbbing temples with his forefingers. He never showed his weakness in front of others, but at this moment, his face was weary beyond description.

Keqi had lived in the shadow of Han Mingxu before Han Mingxu’s death. He had been kept in an airtight villa and surrounded by his home tutor and etiquette teacher. Every day Keqi had been required to watch videos of Han Mingxu and mimic him.

When he was a naive child, he had a strong thirst for freedom. For many times, He tried to escape from the villa, but was recaptured and punished severely. Gradually, he learned from experience and knew how to protect himself. At that time, he was just 10 years old, but he had to bear the misery of living like a prisoner. How ridiculous!

His home tutor told him the importance of endurance.

He who could suppress a moment’s anger would someday accomplish his ambition.

Afterwards, he grew up and mastered a lot of knowledge. Frise told him that the boy in the videos was his twin brother. At that time, he harboured resentment against Han Mingxu. ‘We are twins. Why can he live freely? Why have I been trapped in the cage since childhood?’ he thought resentfully.

So he asked Frise, “Since we are twins, why don’t we live together? Why did mom and dad never come to see me?”